Not Just For Her
by sunhai guy
Summary: Its been a week. Jess is on the edge of insanity. The Dark Master offers him a deal, to bring back the only person hes ever really loved...
1. Prologue

A/N: Hey my readers, peeps, and assorted other characters of various affiliation. Im back... with a new story! cheer

I know its been a while and nothing Ive started is done...but work with me. with great reviews comes great ideas...and that's where you people come in. You help me...I write for your pleasure. This is my first Bridge to Terabithia story...and probably my only one. I just loved the book when I was little, and now I love the movie, and I just have to write just one to get it off my shoulders. So without further rambling...I present...

Bridge to Sorrow

Prologue

The Contract

There was a faint click as Jess Aarons turned his flashlight on, sliding out the window, into the torrential downpour battering their roof. The closing window woke his younger sister, May Belle.

"Jess?" She whispered. "Jesse? Where are you going?"

"Go to sleep, May Belle," Jess snapped quietly. She flinched, and began to tear up. "Dont tell anyone where I am, I'll be back soon. If im not, I'll be sleeping in the Royal Chamber.

He closed the window the rest of the way, and slid slowly down the slippery roof. He jumped from the bottom of the roof, thumping the ground hard. He had a bit of trouble getting up. He walked toward the dirt road, thinking about how he had named his sister the princess of Terabithia. She knew where Their Place was now, and why it meant so much to him.

Because it was Theirs. Nobody else knew, not even their parents. It was only for them, and nobody else would ever know. That's how it was meant to be. His first real friend introduced it to him, his own imagination. She helped him set it free...

Leslie Burke.

It had been a week.

She was gone, lost in a terrible accident, traveling to a place she loved. She didn't deserve it, though; she was just a little girl, whose only crime may have been thinking too much. She was his only friend, and he, her only friend. They were all that mattered to each other.

_"She really loved you, Jess..."_

If her father only knew how he felt about her.

If only _she_ knew how he felt about her.

Jess crossed the dirt drive to the woodlands, on his way across the Bridge to visit his home, and not his home away from home, but his real home, the only place he felt he truly belonged...unless he counted Hell.

Yes, as far as young Jesse was concerned, the whole thing was his fault. Of course in his denial of the whole ordeal, he pressed it onto Ms. Edmonds, but he knew it wasn't true, and he could have gone for Leslie if he wanted.

Why didn't he...? Why had he left her? Wasn't he planning to spend the day with her? He knew he was, and he knew he was wrong not to bring her. It took him days to come to grips with it, and to settle into the belief that it was all his fault. Yes, if he belonged anywhere, it was Hell.

_"Jess...come here, Jess..."_

Jess was startled. "Leslie?"

"Come to me, Jess..."

Jess dashed the rest of the way across the road. Just as he passed the treeline, the voice spoke again.

"You won't find me over there, Jess..."

"Leslie!" He shouted. "Where are you?"

"Follow my voice..." The voice called to him once more.

He ran in the direction he felt it was coming from, toward the highway. There was a loud rumbling as he came across the paved road, he stopped just in time to let a large rig pass him by.

"Close..." he said to himself.

"Close, indeed," the voice called to him. Only it was different. It was...darker.

"Who are you?" Jess called to it angrily.

The voice materialized in front of him, a large, shadowed being, standing a good few feet taller than Jess himself. He recognized it from only his wildest, most exciting dreams.

"Dark Master?"

"I've been called that. By many...my worshipers, those under my complete control...Terabithians..."

"Terabithians? WHO ARE YOU!?"

"Yes, the Terabithians. Your people. The ones that toss their faith blindly behind you, to help accomplish your childish ends."

"What is it you want from me?" Jess demanded.

"Calm down, boy king," he laughed. "I'm not here to cause any trouble...at least not much. I'm here...to make a deal."

"...What do you mean?" Jess inquired angrily.

"I have here...a document. A bit of a contract, if you will. The code of my Rule demands that any document with my seal on it must be adhered to, whether I like it or not, I am physically unable to. So all it needs...is the king's signature." He tossed the scroll into the crossroads. Jess stepped forward and opened it, reading intently.

As he read through it, the Master continued, "Basically, it's asking for something in your possession, in return for something in mine." As those words were spoken, he came across an operative word in the bill: soul.

"What's this talk of souls?" Jesse asked.

The great black giant laughed. "You have a soul, I'm sure you know. And I have in my possession...another.

"...Leslie?"

"Indeed. Her disbelief in the Lord your God has damned her to the flames below, making her eternal soul my property to gamble with as I see fit. And I see this as an opportunity."

"Why would you tell me that?" Jess asked. He wasn't the smartest, but he knew the bad guy should never reveal his plan.

"Well of course I would never make this investment without the hopes it would be beneficial to me, dear boy," he cackled. "Give me your soul. In return, I give you hers. And best of all...I make it as if this horrible...accident...never occured." he stifled another laugh.

"I KNEW IT WAS YOU!" Jess shouted in anger as he lashed out at the shadow monster. He dove at it but it was fruitless; he passed through.

"We cannot hurt each other here," the Master explained. "Outside of Terabithia, we are physically powerless over one another." He stepped out to the scroll, which Jess had dropped in the middle of the streets. He held it out and read to himself saying, "I'll even tell you of all the little catches, as I'm sure you'll agree anyways. And if you don't...at least I have the girl."

Jess growled as he approached the demon, reading the parchment.

"Here it tells you," Dark Master began, "That all will be returned to as close to normal as it gets. It'll be like it never happened. The only thing is...even though you go back to that fateful day, and it's as if nothing were ever wrong, it still happened. Your memory of the event is thus gone, because it will all have gone by and then changed, but even I don't have control over your subconsious. You could suffer from strange flashes, nightmares, you know, the usual crazy person behavior. Of course...since you won't remember a thing that happened this past week,although it happened, really happened, and was reversed in the blink of an eye, you won't remember tonight. You won't recall this deal."

"It's done," Jesse said. "Show me where to sign." After all, without Leslie, he was nothing, his life was nothing, he was unbearably sure that he was going to die that day, every day, and was just patiently waiting for it to happen. He had even lost a lot of weight, most of it muscle mass, from not eating or going to school.

The Master held out his hand, in which a blood red quill appeared. Jesse took the feather pen from the monster. He reached out to the line at the bottom of the page. Just before he signed, the Master intervened.

"One last...detail," he chimed. "There is one more rule. I told you I wouldn't make this deal without a possibility of gain, and here's whats in it for me."

The monster paused for a second, long enough to reveal an evil smile. "You will retain your soul. It will be within you, as it always has been, and it will be completely unmarked. But it is still my property, once you sign the contract. That means you are subject to my rules. Don't try to break it, now...a king must be true to his word."

"Just tell me," Jess glowered.

"I know you have feelings for the girl. If you get closer to her, your safety is gone. I will not come for your soul until your death, after you pass, but the moment you lower your guard and close the emotional distance between you, your demise will be swift."

Jess paused for a split second, enough to think about what he was doing.

_If i do this...Leslie will be back. Like it never happened. But...If we cant be close...it wouldn't make a difference. But it would make a world of difference to her...save her from the abyss. God gave his son to save us. It's my turn to do something for God._

Jess reached out to the parchment and signed: Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr; First King of Terabithia.

The Master roared with laughter. "The deed is done. Everything will be as it should. But remember what I told you..."

Everything went white as Jesse Aarons lost consciousness.


	2. Sunday Revival

A/N: It didn't take long to finish this chapter...and I'm almost done with chapter 3. It's on paper...and within a couple days I'll be putting on my "quality" machine and up onto the site for you peoples. Until Then...

Chapter 1

Saturday Revival

Jess did not dream that night. At least he didn't think he did. Just a white light. He awoke slowly, as he usually did, with a pile of drawings and paintings under his chin. He rolled out, not really feeling well. He felt like he hadn't eaten in a week. He climbed down the stairs numbly, taking his seat at the table. He poured a bowl of cereal and grabbed a pancake. He ate quickly, to sate the hunger that had strangely grown in him over the night.

"What day is it?" Jess asked. He wasn't really sure for some reason.

"It's saturday," Brenda replied, "Why?"

"I don't know," Jess sighed. "I just felt like this weekend had already passed. Like I've been out for a week."

He finished his meal and went for the front door. He had decided to surprise Leslie, and show up a bit early to head into their magical kingdom.

Leslie...

For some reason he felt an ominous presence.

"Jess! Jess!" May Belle yelled running downstairs. "Phone! It's your girlfriend."

Looks like she beat him to the surprising. "She's not my girlfriend!"

He took the phone and casually answered, "hey!"

"Hey Jess," The voice on the line replied.

"Wait, who's this?"

"It's your teacher, Miss Edmunds. I know its a Saturday, but I wanted you to go somewhere with me. I thought you might like to visit a museum in Washington."

His heart leapt. He had the biggest crush on Miss Edmunds, and now she was inviting him out. "Hold on, I have to ask my mom."

He turned around and rushed back into the kitchen, where his mother was wide awake cooking. "Mom, Miss Edmunds wants me to go with her to a museum in Washington, can I go?"

Jess saw a flash. Nobody else saw it, it happened in an instant. He felt the presence again, presence of something bad. Something evil. And he felt it pulling, like it was changing existance itself.

"No, Jess," His mother replied, "I'm terribly sorry, but you have a lot of chores that you need to pick up on. There's work to be done that we will need your help with."

"Okay..." he sighed, lifting the reciever to his ear again. "Miss Edmunds, I'm sorry but today's not the best day. I have a lot of work to do."

"It's okay," Miss Edmunds replied. "You do what you have to do. We can try it later."

"Thanks anyway, Miss Edmunds."

"No, no, thank you," She said cheerily. "Well, I'll see you in class on Monday. Bye!"

"Bye.." Jess sighed as he hung up the phone.

"Now, off to those chores," his dad ordered.

-------------------------------------------------------

Jess worked for hours, doing jobs that he had never before needed to do, but with his dad being at the store longer hours, his help was desparately needed. He was fixing the sprinklers in the green house when Leslie arrived.

"Hi Jess!" Leslie called from behind him.

Jess stopped what he was doing, and turned around. Leslie was here. He saw another flash. He saw pictures, beautiful pictures of the most beautiful girl, and a guestbook. There were names in it he had never seen, names he recognized as his neighbors, and names of his parents and family. All the Aarons family. And a lot of Burkes.

He dove out and wrapped his arms around Leslie.

"Uhmm...Jess..."she started, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not really sure," Jess sighed, letting her go. "I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you."

"I was here yesterday," She reminded him.

"Yeah...I know...but I have this strange feeling...like you've been gone."

"Whatever," She laughed. "But...I guess I appreciate the nice big 'welcome back' hug." She laughed as she stepped out. He turned the sprinklers on, and his work was done.

"Leslie..." Jess whispered.

"What?" She asked.

"Is it okay...if we don't go to Terabithia today?"

"Jess..." She whined, "why not?"

"I just have this feeling that something bad is going to happen," is all he could say.

"Tell you what. We'll go later," She smiled. "But we ARE going today."

Jess still didn't like the idea, but it gave him time to think. They went inside, and decided to watch some TV.

He still couldn't shake the idea that someting was wrong.


End file.
